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Saturday, 17 September 2016

Just came back from a pn (presentation) given by Brig Rao DDG Pay Commission Cell. Msg (messages) floating in Whats App or other social media are baseless.

The fact Army accepts to implement Pay Commission is given to media by Def Secy and not by RM. RM is in favour of addressing the anomalies. Chiefs told him that Defence forces will wait but implement it after sorting out the anomalies. Like dt by 15 Nov

So dont expect it before 01 Jan 2017.

All newspapers clippings have been rel (released) by MoD not by Military or by RM.
REGARDS,
A Sunder Rajan

﻿ Fourteen lakh military personnel will get their new salaries under the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) from October 1, with the three Service chiefs agreeing to wait for the government to separately resolve the “core pay anomalies“ at a later date.Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, in his capacity as chairman of the chiefs of staff committee, on Friday directed the Army , Navy and IAF headquarters to issue the requisite orders and instructions for implementation of the 7th CPC immediately , defence ministry sources said. This comes after defence minister Manohar Parrikar's assurance to the Service chiefs -ACM Raha, General Dalbir Singh Suhag and Admiral Sunil Lanba -that he would strive to resolve their “core pay anomalies“ at the earliest by taking them up with PM Narendra Modi. “Parrikar has already discussed the matter with the PM,“ said a source. The flurry of activity comes after the Service headquarters on September 9 issued signals to their personnel around the country that they had asked the government to keep in “abeyance“ the implementation of the 7th CPC for them till the persisting core anomalies were resolved, as first reported by TOI last week. Upset with the signals, Parrikar had summoned the Service chiefs to ask them to dispel the notion that a con frontation was brewing between the government and the armed forces. Consequently , ACM Raha had issued a statement that said, “The defence minister is seized of all the issues and has assured to resolve them at the earliest. The Services are satisfied with the response.“ The armed forces for long have maintained that successive pay commissions have degraded their status, parity and equivalence as compared to their civilian counterparts, and the 7th CPC was no exception. The 33 lakh central government civilian employe es have already begun to get their enhanced salaries under the 7th CPC -along with arrears from January 1 -from this month onwards after their new pay-scales were earlier notified by the government. But the three Services till now had kept the September 6 notification issued by the Centre for them on hold because it did not address any of their main issues. “Anomalies of the 6th CPC, incidentally , have not been resolved till now despite promises. Let's see if they are resolved now,“ said an IAF officer. (SOURCE- TOI NEW DELHI - http://epaperbeta.timesofindia .com/Article.aspx?eid=31808& articlexml=Military-agrees-to- accept-new-pay-scales-from- 17092016015030 )

India is the only country where there are 400+ Lt Gen rank wearing police officers (Army has 83 Lt Gens, though being 1.3 million). Out of 400 plus DG and ADG post officers, 40 plus are drawing salary equivalent of Army Commander from 25 years of service till they retire (even DG NDRF having strength less then 5 infantry battalions draw Army commanders salary).
Another astonishing fact is that indian police is only organisation in world to wear Rank batches of Lt Col in 2 years of service after two years of probation and trg. Our Majors and Lt cols address these 2 yrs mocked police boys as sir and maam, and our senior officers force this wrong precedence in name of liaison with civ auths. Indian soldiers shouldn't be denied their due rights. Read this post and you will know that DC's, SPs and SDM's hide themselves behind curtains in calamities. I had an opportunity to glance through IDSA study which has been extensively quoted by the Pay Commission to deny or scale down the dues to Armed Forces personals.
But I am surprised that the IDSA study did not mention that in US and UK soldiers get their pensions at the rate of 75% of their salary. Also when the US & European nations deploy their soldiers in war like situation or disaster relief operations they do not pay income tax. I wish the study had made the mention that even while fighting kargil war officers and JCos paid the income tax, same is the case for J&K and NE insurgency. I was told that the income tax is also charged from the last salary of a martyr. which is nothing short of national shame I wish these facts should have been included in the 7cpc. Since the IDSA study compared the purchasing power of other country soldiers vis a vis India. But the pay commission did not use this analogy while calculating and doling out three increments to IAS , IPS & IFS. An army officer gets 31500/-- for serving in Siachen but a central cadre officer gets 50000 to 70000 for serving in so called difficult areas such as Shillong, Imphal and Guwahati @ 30% of their salary (In Spite of the acknowledgement made by pay commission cell that most difficult area to serve with no parallel is Siachen). During Uttrakhand Disaster relief operations, three DCs were literally not available during the critical days of disaster. Same was the case with SDMs and tehsildars. The SDM who was deputed to go to Kedarnath emerged only after five days of relief operation in vogue. DC prefered to park himself inside the Joshimath camp so that public can't reach him. When DC was forced to go and see the condition on ground, the gentleman did not get down from the helicopter fearing that he might not be allowed by public to board the helicopter. DC uttarkashi did not feel safe to visit and see the conditions of pilgrims at Gangotri and harsil. The pilgrims kept asking "where is the administration, if the army has to do everything why is government spending poormen's national wealth on them" It is sad that the public of India does not even know why a soldier defy the logic and conventions? Why does he risk his life? In-spite of the fact that there is no written rule where a soldier is suppose to die while performing his duty, yet he does so. It is ethos, traditions and character of soldiers that prompt them to do so. Second factor is because he knows he is not a government servant, he is an elite and serves the nation. He also knows that he is the last bastion and pillar which nation is dependent upon. Every other department has failed and and can fail, but nation can still recover. But if the soldiers fail, the nation will fail. No other government agency can redeem it. it is elitism that separates soldiers from the rest. Unfortunately over a period of time the elitism has been killed and soldier is repeatedly told he is a government servant that too semi skilled. Whereas soldering is most complex, technical and skilful job which is unparalleled. I must quote the examples of US/ Uk and other countries. When the body of a martyr is brought back to US. The captain of the aircraft makes the announcement prior to taking off "we are privileged to fly back martyr ---xyz--- on his last journey back home" On arrival of the body of the martyr on US soil and his native place.water canon salute is given. Crew line up on tar to pay last respect. The CEO or the highest authority of the air port receives the body along with the Guard. All passenger stand in line till body is moved out. But when the body of Maj Varadarajan was being flown from Srinagar to Chennai, the Captain was requested by the officer accompanying the body to announce that maj Vardrajan is on board on his last journey back home, the captain of the aircraft refused to announce that he is privileged to fly the martyr on his last journey back home, saying it will send a kind of bad feeling and omen to people flying and thus he will not do so. Incidentally there was another pilot who wrote small message of regretting such an incident. The body of soldiers are taken from the cargo gate which is indeed an insult. And we continue to accept it without highlighting it. It is only Mr Chandrashekher MP Rajya Sabha who is fighting a lone battle. We need to introspect and make the nation aware that Profession of soldiering is not routine government job. It is different an elitism is must or else, we will have soldier also behaving like other government staff such as the famous DCs of Uttrakhand. Can nation afford soldiers behaving like government servants? I don't think so. I heard in the news today that Drs did not turn up in Chennai, the government staff in haryana did not turn up for their duties...... But soldiers did their best whole day. Is it that their lives are not precious? (SOURCE - VIA E-MAIL)

The development came after Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, along with Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, met with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar earlier this week.

Sources said that during the meeting with the chiefs, Manohar Parrikar told them that the government cares for the forces and all concerns raised by them will be addressed. (Source: File) Satisfied with assurances by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha has issued directions to all service headquarters asking them to issue orders for implementation of the 7th Pay Commission. This means that the soldiers will receive their new salary in their pay in September. The development came after Raha, along with Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, met with Parrikar earlier this week. Parrikar assured them that the “anomalies” they pointed out in the 7th Pay Commission will be taken up at the “highest level”, defence sources said.

In a surprising move, the three services had on September 9 issued letters to their formations, saying they have asked the government to hold “in abeyance” the implementation of the CPC in view of the “unresolved anomalies”. Sources said that during the meeting with the chiefs, Parrikar told them that the government cares for the forces and all concerns raised by them will be addressed. They said that Parrikar even got the gazette notification announcing the 7th Pay Commission amended to make sure the military retains its edge over the Central Armed Police Forces. The Defence Ministry had recently notified the 7th Pay Commission. Sources pointed out that a cabinet notification cannot be corrected before it is notified. “The anomalies committees are meant to correct the shortcomings,” sources said. The forces argue that the anomalies lower the status and pay parity of forces vis-a-vis their counterparts in the police and civilian administration.

The defence ministry had issued an order implementing the SPC on September 5 without the key issues addressed. After a week-long difference of opinion over the implement enhanced salaries under the 7th Central Pay Commission pay, the armed forces have heeded the advice of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha has issued directions to all service headquarters asking them to issue orders for implementation of the 7th pay commission. The implementation had been stopped on September 9 after the three services issued letters to their formations saying they have asked the Government to hold “in abeyance” the implementation of the CPC in view of the “unresolved anomalies”.

The defence ministry had issued an order implementing the SPC on September 5 without the key issues addressed. Following this the three services expressed their severe displeasure on some of the provisions of the SPC which they say would further downgrade the status of the forces with respect to their civilian counterparts and police. The services issued a note issued to all personnel stating that they were “constrained” to request the government to hold the implementation of the 7th pay commission award “in abeyance” in view of anomalies which need to be resolved. The development came after Raha, along with Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, met with Parrikar earlier this week. Parrikar assured them that the “anomalies” they pointed out in the 7th Pay Commission will be taken up at the “highest level”, defence sources said.

The ‘unresolved anomalies’ had surfaced in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) notification issued on September 6. On September 12, Parrikar had asked the forces to implement the pay commission and grievances, if any, can be taken up latter. Four key anomalies flagged by the services are Non Functional Upgrade (NFU), NFU pay fixation, Military Service Pay (MSP), common pay matrix for civilian and military services and allowances.

All Pay Commissions had former judges as presiding officers, so one expected them to judge for themselves and not just accept what the secretaries, who are IAS officers, fed them. These presiding officers have been visiting military formations and units in field areas to see for themselves, the environments and conditions under which troops live and the nature of their work. Unfortunately, the military as a good host, has been laying out the red carpet for them and putting them up in well appointed guest rooms, which are quite apart from the accommodation and facilities available to the majority of the officers. So they carried a completely wrong impression of our living conditions in field areas and working environments therein. In economic life, happiness is relative and not absolute. How could anyone, if blessed with an unbiased mind, fail to take note of the issues of early retirement, extremely limited scope for career advancement, disturbed family life, the element of risk to life and limb etc so palpably evident in the case of defence personnel. Factors taken into account in every democracy, the world over is termed as 'the X factor' and appropriately compensated. How is it that all the chairmen of the Central Pay Commissions, (CPCs) starting with the 3rd CPC, (which dropped the pension of defence personnel from 70 to 50 % and increased the civilian pension from 30 to 50%t of the last pay drawn), so completely failed to exercise their own judgment. And in the process overlook such visible issues. Does all this reflect on the quality of our judicial cadres or is it that only those were selected who would accept what is fed to them by the secretaries of these commissions.
As for themselves ( these secretaries from the IAS ) the case can best be summed up with the Punjabi saying, ‘anna whanday raorian mur mur apneyan nu deh’ (one blinded by family affinity distributes goodies to only his own ilk). These secretaries cornered maximum benefits for their own cadre,s with the chairmen being none the wiser. Take the case of grant of Non Function Financial Upgradation (NFFU).
If any service deserved to be granted the NFFU, it is the militarybecause of the very early retirement and extremely limited scope for advancement in career, even if one overlooks hard living conditions and risk to life and limb etc. Yet it is only the military that was denied NFFU while it was granted to over four dozen central services: something even the dim witted cannot miss. And yet our worthy judge of the 6th CPC remained oblivious of this fundamental flaw in his final judgement. Mishandling of this one issue of NFFU makes a complete nonsense of the Sixth CPC report, even if one is to overlook over two dozen anomalies relating to the pay and allowances for the military. Did these justices ever looked into the composition of the team of over 100 officers assembled each time, to work out the nitty gritty of the report and notice that there has never been a defence services officer in these teams, though the defence services form the largest group after the Indian railways: an overall 30% of the total strength being considered. While much of the forests in the country have disappeared, wild life greatly depleted and well forested hills in the Himalayas a rare sight, yet being part of the lot assembled to work out the details in the report, they positioned themselves alongside the top bracket, with the chairmen remaining oblivious of these manipulations. How could these representatives of the judiciary on whose wisdom and fair play the nation places so much of its faith, allow the committees, whose chairmen they were,to act with repeated bias and hand out such an unfair deal to the military. The chairman of 7th CPC informs us that the job of an IAS officer is difficult as he has to deal with 'Sarpanches' and others in public. If only these worthies had done their job with dedication and honesty, there would have been no Red Corridor, running right through the centre of their country, consisting of over 200 districts, where the Indian governments writ does not fully run. The 7thCPC has given even higher allowances to civil officials for the hardship of living in comfortable bungalows, and much less to the military soldiers living in the comfort of a bunker or a tent at some remote high altitude location that has life threatening high altitude sickness built into the situation. These judges are selected by the bureaucracy and there lies the catch. Carrots are always part of the establishment. How is it that not one amongst them has been able to judge for himself, display fairness, go into the details placed before him and do justice to the military! At the other end the top brass of the army has completely failed to abide by the advise given to them as they marched through Chetwode Hall.("The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time. The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next. Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time." ) They repeatedly let down the rank and file. At last this attitude appears to be changing! Hopefully persistently! The present assignment of Justice Reddy, concerning One Rank One Pension (OROP), does not require months and months to complete the work, where there are only four main issues which are simple and straightforward. These are easy to resolve, and require no specific skills and certainly not much time. Nor does it call for touring the whole country to get the same views from every one. These issues are so simple, so why this façade of inter-acting with ex-servicemen all over the country and seeking presentation after presentation from endless ex-servicemen associations and individuals. No one need expect much from Justice Reddy. It is a mere repeat of the same old charade of constituting committees of secretaries where the outcome is pre-determined.

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